Summer School

Last weekend, I went down to Birmingham with a few of the others from Glasgow Feminist Network, to go to the 2-day Summer School event run by UK Feminista, and this year hosted by the Birmingham Fems at Birmingham University. We had a great weekend, and there was so much to do that I can't even write about it all - several classes were scheduled at the same time so we had to pick the ones we wanted to do carefully, though we didn't all go to the same ones. I went to:

How to set up and run a feminist meeting;How to engage men in feminist activism; The colour of beauty: race, gender and the beauty industry; Not for sale: resisting the sex industry Everyday Activism: promoting feminism in everyday life and The Global Struggle: International feminist resistance

Everyone that spoke was very well-informed, and there were always time for questions afterwards. The speaking panels were made up of people from groups such as Object, Eaves, The Anti-Porn Men Project, and Women For Women International.

There was a really great atmoshpere there, everyone was really friendly and open, and all weekend you could see groups of women (and occassionally men!) sitting talking about what they'd just seen, watched or heard. People in the halls of residence grouped together and hung out, people worked in groups at workshops and in projects. The whole experience was so positive and affirming - I'd recommend it to anyone who was considering going to next year's. I think this is something that's just going to grow and grow.

And that seemed to be the over-riding theme of the weekend: feminism is growing. It's back (if it ever went away) and it's stronger than ever. More and more people are coming to see the feminist movement as a question of human rights and civil liberties, and are becoming more willing to put their name to the feminist cause.

The Guardian wrote an article about it (which you can read here), a woman from the Glasgow Herald was there, and people were constantly tweeting updates, comments, messages and summaries of the events there.

I haven't been able to switch off my feminist brain since I got back, and I think the other GFN-ers are the same - we're bursting with new-found feminist energy, and raring to go! We've already got several things in the works: a new website, t-shirts, a fundraiser...

Watch this space, Glasgow feminism is coming your way!!

Clara xx